Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	salt_n	spirit_n	volatile_a	987	5	12.2917	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67083	Systema agriculturæ, the mystery of husbandry discovered treating of the several new and most advantagious ways of tilling, planting, sowing, manuring, ordering, improving of all sorts of gardens, orchards, meadows, pastures, corn-lands, woods & coppices, as also of fruits, corn, grain, pulse, new-hays, cattle, fowl, beasts, bees, silk-worms, &c. : with an account of the several instruments and engines used in this profession : to which is added Kalendarium rusticum, or, The husbandmans monthly directions, also the prognosticks of dearth, scarcity, plenty, sickness, heat, cold, frost, snow, winds, rain, hail, thunder, &c. and Dictionarium rusticum, or, The interpretation of rustick terms, the whole work being of great use and advantage to all that delight in that most noble practice.	Worlidge, John, fl. 1660-1698.	1675 (1675)	Wing W3599; ESTC R225414	330,040	361

Volatile Mercury or Spirit to the more fixed Salt Spiritus Mediante Anima cum corpore conjungitur ligatur fit unum cum eis say the Philosophers This Sulphur or oyly part is easily separated and distinguish'd in Vegetables by the more curious it ariseth out of the earth with the aforesaid Mercury or Aqueous Spirit though not at the first discernable yet in every Plant more and more maturated and augmented by the Suns influence as the Seed or Matrix is more or less inclined to this Principle This is also that which gives to our hot and stinking Dungs Soils or Manures the Oleaginous pinguidity and Fertility and which begets that fiery heat which is in Vegetables as Hay Corn c. laid on heaps not throughly dry Not only the Duration of Individuals but also the Propagation Of the Universal Salt Willis de fermentatione of the Species dependeth much on the Principle of Salt for the Growth of Minerals the Fertility of Land the Vegetation or Growth of Plants and chiefly the fruitful Foetation and Progeny of Animals have their Original from their Saline Seed This Salt obscurely passeth with the Mercurial Spirit and the Sulphur and is associated therewith where ever that passes and where it finds a convenient Receptable Seed or Matrix it is more fixed than either the Sulphur or Spirit The Salt is that which gives to every Creature a Substance or Body without which neither the Spirit nor Sulphur could be reduced or coagulated into any Form It is in every thing Sal autem reperitur in rebus omnibus It is volatile when carried in the wings of the Spirit and Sulphur by the natural Fire or Motion But afterwards it is more fixed when separated from the Spirit or Mercury and Sulphur by artificial Fire as appears in the ashes or Caput Mortuum of all Vegetables Animals or Minerals distilled or burnt much also of the Sulphureous or Mercurial parts are coagulated by or transmuted into the Saline by natural or artificial Heat or Warmth as is evident in the Sea the nearer it is to the Equinoctial Line and the more it receives of the Perpendicular or direct Beams of the Sun the greater quantity of Salt it contains not only by the exhalation of the Aqueous or Phlegmatick parts but the Maturation Transmutation or Fixation of the more Volatile Spiritual and Sulphureous parts into the more Saline or fixed For in those hotter Climates the Land it self also is more Fertile through the abounding quantity of this Vegetating Salt as appears by the great plenty of Nitre or Sal terrae found in the hotter Climates lying on the Surface of the Earth in the morning like a hoary Frost when the Regions nearer the Poles having not those natural advantages of the Sun-beams in so high a degree are not so Fertile nor abound so much with Salt the most principal cause of Fertility But we will leave these Philosophical Principles as they are simply Of the true matter of Vegetables and apart very necessary to be known by those that Operate in the more-Secret Mystical and Mechanick Indagations of Nature and discourse only of that Universal Spirit or Vapor which daily and every moment perspires and proceeds out of every part of the Earth and is in every thing containing in it self the Spirit or Mercury the Sulphur and the Salt in one body united and without Art indivisible yet some one Part or Principle abounding more or less in every thing as the Water containeth more of the Spiritual or Aqueous part several Fruits Plants Flowers and Soils more of the Sulphureous and Barks of Trees Blood of Animals and several Minerals more of the Saline And wheresoever these Principles are most equally tempered or mixed there is most of Fertility as is evident in the several Natures Tempers and Qualities of Places for the Production or Propagation of Vegetables and wheresoever any or either of these Principles do over-much abound Vegetables are not produced as Waters or any other Liquors or Spirits are not Where Water or Spirits abound Fertile in themselves as to Vegetation unless they are either conjoyned with some other Substance or Matter or the more Phlegmatick parts evaporated and the remaining part maturated by the Sun or Air into an augmentation of the other Principles then is it capable of yielding naturally some sort of Vegetables For although several Plants set in Water only do emit fibrous roots and flourish therein for a time yet is it meerly an attraction of the most Saline and Sulphureous parts or Principles to its own relief as is evident by its better thriving if the Water be often changed At best this nourishment is but weak having so little of the Sulphur and Salt as the Withy Poplar and other Aquatick Plants demonstrate Therefore out of any sort of Waters only it is in vain to attempt any material or effectual increase of Vegetables other than that are naturally Aquatick because they contain a superaboundant Spirit or Moisture Therefore vain is the new received Opinion that Trees and other Vegetables and also other Minerals proceed from Water only But our Spiritus Mundi or Materia propinqua Vegetabilium although it appear in a Liquid form yet it contains actually an equal proportion of the three Principles And the more any Substance or Matter is impregnated or irrigated therewith the more prone or apt it is to Vegetation as Rain-water being animated with it by the continual Exhalations or Fumes ascending from the Earth and by it coagulated and detained is more prone to Vegetation than any other Waters as you may perceive by Plants watered therewith and by its sudden Generation of Animals and Vegetables in the Spring-time then the Earth more copiously breathing forth that Spiritus Mundi which returned again doth by the vivifying heat of the Sun easily transcend into another Species How soon will Horse-hairs receive life lying in Rain-water but a few days in the heat of the Sun in the Spring-time whereof I have seen many in the High-ways after Rain in the Month of May very nimble and quick that had not yet lost their shape of a Horse-hair This is worthy our further enquiry to what Period this may be advanced it may also serve as an Index to point at several other Excellent Discoveries Neither is the more Sulphureous part or Principle of it self capable Where Fumes or Sulphur abounds of yielding Vegetables being of too hot and pinguid a Nature as the Dung of Animals and especially of Volatiles that eject no Urine whereby the more fiery and Sulphureous part of the others is diluted containing much of that pinguidity produce no Vegetables of it self unless commixed or allayed with some other Matter abounding with the other Principles or that it loose it s too fiery or destructive Nature by being exposed to the Sun or Air untill it be evaporated then will it emit several Vegetables Of the like Nature also are the flesh and bones

of their Land and that to a very great advantage All manner of Sea-owse Owsy-mud or Sea-weeds or any such-like growing either in the Sea or fresh Rivers whereof there is a very great quantity lost and destroyed are very good for the bettering of Land In Cornwal there is also a Weed called Ore-weed whereof some grows upon Rocks under high Water-marks and some is broken from the bottom of the Sea by rough weather and cast upon the next shore by the Wind and Flood wherewith they Compost their Barly-Land Of Snayl-Cod or Snag-greet It lieth frequently in deep Rivers it is from a Mud or Sludge it is very soft full of Eyes and wrinkles and little shells is very rich some they sell for one shilling two pence the Load another sort they sell for two shillings four pence the Load at the Rivers-side which men fetch twenty miles an end for the Inriching of their Land for Corn and Grass one Load going as far as three Load of the best Horse or Cow-dung that can be had It hath in it many Snails and Shells which is conceived occasioneth the fatness of it I am very credibly informed that an Ingenious Gentleman living Of Oyster-shells near the Sea-side laid on his Lands great quantities of Oyster-shells which made his Neighbours laugh at him as usually they do at any thing besides their own clownish road or custom of ignorance for the first and second years they signified little but afterwards they being so long exposed to the weather and mixed with the moist Earth they exceedingly enriched his Lands for many years after which stands also with reason the Shells of all such Fish being only Salt congealed into such a form which when it is dissolved of necessity must prove fertile There is in most Rivers a very good rich Mud of great fruitfulness Of Mud. and unexpected advantage it costs nothing but labour in getting it hath in it great worth and vertue being the Soil of the Pastures and Fields Commons Roads Ways Streets and Backsides all washed down by the flood and setling in such places where it meets with rest There is likewise very great fertility in the residence of all Channels Ponds Pools Lakes and Ditches where any store of Waters do repose themselves but especially where any store of Rain-water hath a long time setled In Forein parts where Fish are plenty they prove an excellent Of Fish Manure for Land in some places here in England there are plenty of some sorts of Fish and at some seasons not capable of being kept for a Market it were better to make use of them for our advantage than not I presume they are of the best of Soils or Manures but herein I submit to experience Doubtless there is not any thing that proceeds from the Sea or other Waters whether it be Fish or the Garbish of Fish Vegetables Shells Sands or Mud or any such-like dissolving matter but must be of very great advantage to the Husbandman if duly and judiciously applied SECT IV. Of Dungs or Excrementitious Soyls This is the most common of any Dung whatsoever by reason Of Horse dung that Horses are most kept in Stables and their Soil preserved yielding a considerable price in most places the higher the Horses are fed the better is the Dung by far it is the only Dung in use whilest it is new for hot Beds and other uses for the Gardiner Next unto the Horse-dung is Cow-dung whereof by reason of Of Cow or Ox-dung its easie solution hath been made the Water wherein Grain hath been steeped and hath deceived many a plain-meaning Husbandman for there is not that richness nor vertue therein as many judge for that purpose But this together with Horse-dung or other Dung is of very great advantage to Land if it be kept till it be old and not laid abroad exposed to the Sun and Wind as is the practise of the several ignorant Husbands letting of it lie spread on their Field-Lands three or four of the Summer-months together till the Sun and Air hath exhausted all the vertue thereof which if it be laid on heaps with Earth mixed therewith and so let lie till it be rotten it will be the sooner brought to a convenient temper and on Pasture-grounds brings a sweeter Grass and goes much farther than the common way and spread before the Plough produces excellent Corn It is also to be used with Judgment for ordinary Dung used the common way in some years doth hurt and sometimes makes Weeds and trumpery to grow which ordered as before is not so apt for such inconveniences Of all Beasts Sheep Of Sheeps-dung yield the best Dung and therefore is most to be esteemed it is a very high Improvement to the common Field-lands where there is a good Flock duly folded on them especially where it is turned in with the Plough soon after the fold the only way to Improve your Sheeps-dung to the highest advantage is to fold them in a covered fold with intermixture of Earth Sand c. as before and by this means we may make our sheep enrich most of our barren Lands Sheeps-dung is very excellent being dissolved wholly as it will be if well squeezed to steep Grain therein for the Grain doth very eagerly imbibe the whole quantity of the Dung into it self except only here and there a treddle undissolved and proves a great Improvement if rightly ordered Great quantities of this Dung might be obtained if poor Women and Children were imployed to pick up the same on the Rode-ways and burning tops of hills where it seldom doth any good but would prove much more advantageous than the cost or trouble by far This hath in former Ages been esteemed the worst of Dungs Of Swines-dung very hurtful to Corn a breeder of Thistles and other noisome Weeds But our late Husbands whose experience I rather credit than English Improver an old vain Tradition say 't is very rich for Corn or Grass or any Land yea of such account to many ingenious Husbands that they prefer it before any ordinary Manure whatsoever therefore they make their Hog-yards most compleat with an high Pale paved well with Pibble or Gravel in the bottom c. they cast into this yard their Cornish Muskings and all Garbidge and all Leaves Roots Fruits and Plants out of Gardens Courts and Yards and great store of Straw Fearn or Weeds for the Swine to make Dung withal some Hog-yards will yield you forty some sixty some eighty Load of excellent Manure of ten or twelve Swine It 's most likely that this Manure so made by these large additions is more natural and kindly to Land than the bare Swines-dung it self and must of necessity prove a very high advantage considering the despicable vile state of this Beast Some good Daries will make the Soil of their Hog-yard produce them twenty or thirty pounds worth of profit in a year Of the Dung of Fowls

Lombardy they esteem them much above other Dung It 's best to lay them either on Corn or Pasture or Meadow in the beginning of Winter that the showers may the easier dissolve them Soot also is affirmed by some to be very good especially that Soot which is made of Wood. It 's most beneficial to Trees or Plants that either grow in the shade or to cold and moist Grounds Common Salt may prove advantageous if used with moderation Salt and discretion as well to saltish Sands Muds Earths c. Some commend very much the sweeping of a Ship of Salt or drossie Salt and Brine It is of singular use as daily experience testifies being dissolved and Seed-corn steeped therein to prevent the Smut and add fertility as we noted before in the Preparation of the Seed There is also a relation of one that sowed a Bushel of Salt long before on a small patch of barren Ground at Clapham which to that day remained more fresh and green and full of Swarth than all the rest of the Field about it This though not a beneficial Experiment by reason of the price of Salt yet a plain demonstration of the Fertility that is in Salts and gives us encouragement to make use of the Brines of Salt-pits or such-like now not in much esteem In Rags of all sorts there is good vertue they are carried far Rogs and laid upon Lands and have them in a warming improving temper one good Load will go as far as a dozen or more of the best Cow-dung Divers also have found singular profit in the Hair that is gotten Hair c. from the Hides of Beasts being thinly laid upon the Ground and suffered to putrifie Also course Wool-nippings and Tarry Pitch-marks may be reckoned into the number having great virtue in them Mault-dust is commended as an Inricher of barren Lands but Mault-dust because great quantities are not to be had thereof it is best to be used in Gardens where you will finde it to be of singular use only it is apt to breed Weeds All sorts of Fearn Straw Brake Stubble Rushes Thistles Fearn Straw Stubble c. Leaves of Trees or any manner of Vegetable Trash whatever either cast into the yards amongst the Cattle or Swine or cast into Pools or places to rot in or mixed with other Soils help very much and make very good Compost All Marrow-bones Fish-bones Horn or shavings of Horn or Bones horns stinking flesh c. Liquors wherein Flesh or Fish have lain or any other thing whatsoever that hath any oyliness or fatness in it is useful in Husbanding Lands It were not much labour to try whether the bones of Horses or other Beasts whereof there are great quantities at some Dog-kennels which if being burnt in heaps with some small addition of Fewel would be of good effect to be laid on Lands There is in all Bark a very rich Salt but in the Oaken-bark the Bark of Trees most which is made use of principally by Tanners but such Barks or Rinds of Trees not of so high a value being broken into small pieces must of necessity enrich either Corn or Pasture-ground being Earth in Willow-trees laid thereon It must needs be much richer than the Mould or Earth usually found in the bodies of old large and hollow Willow-trees that are putrified within which is esteemed to be so rich and effectual Amongst the Coal-Mines they usually dig a kind of blew or black Clay that lies near the Coal and is as it were an unripe Coal which the Country-men commonly call Vrry which they Urry lay on their Pastures with wonderful success and is very proper for warm Lands CHAP. VI. Of the Benefit Raising Planting and Propagating of all sorts of Timber-trees and other Trees useful either in Building or other Mechanick Vses or for Fencing Fewel c. SECT I. Of the Benefit of Propagating Timber-Trees and other Trees in general THe Propagation of Woods or Trees is none of the least Improvements that can be made on most of the Lands in England for the particular advantage and pleasure of the Country-man and in raising the yearly profits of his Farm and very much advancing the price of the purchase thereof over and above the Annual gain and nothing can render a Seat more delectable and pleasant than Wood and Water but principally the curious Groves surrounding or bordering near it What can be more profitable than Woods or Trees which will thrive and increase on the most barren and unfruitful Land be it either wet or dry cold mountanous uneven remote or never so inapt for any other manner of Culture where neither Corn Grass or any other necessary or useful Vegetable will hardly grow yet may we there perceive the lofty Woods flourish far exceeding in value the purchase of the Land without them and instead of injuring the Land whereon they stand it is much bettered and capacitated to bear tillage at the removal of the Trees also the other bordering grounds yield a greater encrease of Corn or Grass by their defence from the extremity of the cold and bitter blasts in the Winter and the scorching drought of the Summer And what can be more pleasant than to have the bounds and limits of your own Propriety preserved and continued from age to age by the Testimony of such living and growing witnesses in the Spring yielding a reviving Cordial to your Winter-chilled spirit giving you an assurance of the approaching Summer by their pregnant Buds and Musical Inhabitants In the Summer what more delectable than the curious prospect of the variety of Greenness dark shades and retirement from the scorching Sun-beams The Autumn and Winter also not without pleasure and content for the active Husbandman And what place can be more displeasing and ungrateful than a naked and dry Seat lying open to all Winds and Weathers of which it may be said as once of old Sarum Est ibi defectus Lymphae sed copia Cretae Saevit ibi Ventus sed Philomela silet As for the more particular advantages and benefits of planting Particular Advantages Woods and Trees you shall find that First It improves and meliorates the Land it self for those Lands where Woods have formerly stood and are now grubbed up or taken away the ground is very good and rich and bears excellent Corn or any other Tillage or Grass although the ground was before the planting or growing of those Woods barren lean and thin as may appear by the bordering Land on either side of such Woods that were never planted Secondly The Annual profits of most Land planted with Coppice-woods are much greater than if the same Land were used for Corn Grass or such-like For I have known on a hill Land not worth for Corn or Grass above five shillings per Acre that at twelve years growth the Coppice-wood thereon growing hath been sold at the rate of twenty pounds per Acre and at

prevented in case the upper-bed whereon the hops lie have a Cover made that may be let down and raised at pleasure which Cover may be Tinned over only by nailing single Tin over the face of it that when the hops begin to dry and ready to turn that is that the greatest part of the moisture be evaporated away then may you let down this Cover within a foot or less of the hops which Reverberatory-like will reflect the heat upon them that the uppermost hop will soon be as dry as the lower and every hop equally dried This is the most expeditious most sure and least expensive way that can be imagined to dry hops which is one of the costliest troublesome and most hazardous piece of work that belongs to the hop as it is vulgarly used As soon as your hops are off the Kiln bag them not immediately Bagging of Hops but lay them in some room or place that they may lie three or four weeks or more that they may cool agive and toughen for if they are immediately bagged they will break to a Powder but if they lie a while the longer the better so they be close covered from the Air with Blankets you may pack or bag them with more security The manner whereof is usually thus make a hole round or square in an upper Floor big enough that a man may with ease go up and down and turn and winde in it then tack on a hop about the mouth of the Bag fast with Packthread that it may bear the weight of the Hops when full and of the Man that treads them then let the Bag down through the hole and the Hop will rest above and keep the Bag from sliding wholly through Into which Bag cast in a few Hops and before you go into ●ead tye at each lower corner a handful of Hops with a piece of Packthread to make as it were a Tassel by which you may conveniently lift or remove the Bag when he is full then go in to the Bag and tread the Hops on every side another casting still in as fast as you require them till it be full When it is well trodden and filled let down the Bag by unripping the hoop and close the mouth of the Bag filling the two upper corners as you did the two lower Which Bag if well dried and well packed may be preserved in a dry place several Years but beware lest the Mice destroy and spoil them After you have dried and laid by your Hops you may return Laying up the Poles again to the Hop-garden and take care to preserve the Poles for another Year Strip off the Hawm clean from them and set up three Poles like unto a Triangle wherewith they usually weigh heavy ware spreading at the bottom and bound together near the top about which you may set your Poles as many as you please binde them about with a little Hawm twisted to keep them together By this means the outward Poles are only subject to the injuries of the weather which keep all the inner Poles dry except only the tops which for the most part are exposed to the Air and wet Therefore the most part Pile them up at length in Piles in several places of the Hop-garden by pitching in several Poles on each side the Pile and laying two or three old Poles athwart at the bottom to keep them from the moist ground and so lay the Poles that the smaller ends may be inwards and the bigger ends outwards for which purpose the Pile must be made somewhat longer than the Poles and when you have raised them high enough with Ropes of Hawm binde the Poles that stand on the one side overthwart to the Poles on the other to preserve them upright and cover them with Hawm to defend them against the Rain But the better way is to lay them in such Shed or house erected in your Hop-garden which may serve for picking of Hops there in the Summer and preservation of the Poles in the Winter it will soon require your cost In the Winter when sittle else can be done to the hop-garden Dunging or Soyling of the Hop-garden then may you provide Soyl and Manure against the Spring if the Dung you carry in be rotten then mix it with two or three parts of the common earth and so let it lie well mixed till the Spring which will serve to make up the hills withal But if the Dung or Soyl be new then let it lie mixed till another Year for new Dung is very injurious to hops Horse-dung Cow-dung or Oxe-dung are very good but no Dung is to compare with Pigeons-dung a little thereof only to a hill and mixed that it may not be too hot in a place Sheeps-dung also is very good In the Spring or Summer-time if you steep Sheeps-dung Pigeons-dung or Hen-dung in water till it be quite dissolved and when you water your hops on the top of every hill in the hollow place made to contain the water you may put a dishful of this dissolved dung and the water wherewith you water your hops will carry with it the vertue thereof to the roots of the hop which may prove the most expeditious advantagious and least expensive way of inriching the hop-hills of any other Also by this means you may convey to the Roots of hops or any other Plant the fixed Salt or vertue of Lime Ashes or any other Fertilizing or inriching Subject whatsoever whereof we have already discoursed SECT II. Of Liquorice Saffron Madder and Dyers Weed The Land this Plant principally delights in being not every Of Liquorice where to be had is one of the causes it is so much neglected and the method of Planting and ordering of it so little understood although our English Liquorice exceeds any Forreign whatsoever yet have not we enough Planted but Yearly buy of other Nations It much delights in a dry and warm Land light and mellow Best Land for Liquorice and the ordering of it and very deep for in the length of the Root consists the greatest advantage for if it be not light dry and deep the Roots cannot inlarge freely such Land that Carriots Parsnips c. delight in Liquorice will prosper in it If the ground be not very rich of it self you must mix good store of the best and lightest Soil in the digging it must be trenched very deep at the least three Spades deep in case the Mould will bear it and lay it as light as possibly you can The best way is to dig it with the Dung at the beginning of the Winter and then dig it again at Planting-time which will lay it much the lighter and mix the Dung the better Procure your Sets from the best and largest Liquorice the best Choice of Sets Sets are the Crown-sets or heads got from the very top of the Root Next and near as good are the Runners which spread from the Master-roots and have little Sprouts

Of Whirlwinds 297 Of the Rainbow 298 Of Noise and stilness in the Air id Of Thunder and Lightening id Of the rarity and density of the Air id Of the Weatherglass or Thermometry 299 Of the Baroscope 301 Sect. 2. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from the Earth and Water 302 Of the Earth id Of the Water id Of the Sea id Sect. 3. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from Beasts 303 Of Beeves or Kine id Of Sheep id Of Kids id Of Asses id Of Dogs id Of Cats id Of Mice and Rats id Of Swine 304 Sect. 4. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from Fowl id Of Water-fowl id Of Land-fowl id Of the Heron id Of the Kite 305 Of the Crow c. id Of Sparrows id Of the Jay id Of Bats id Of the Owl id Of the Woodlark id Of the Swallow id Of the Cock id Sect. 5. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from Fishes and Insects id Of Sea-fish id Of Fresh-water Fish id Of Frogs id Of Snakes id Of Ants id Of Bees id Of Gnats Flies and Fleas id Of Spiders 306 Of Chaffers c. id Sect. 6. Promiscuous Observations Prognosticks id Of Trees and Vegetables id Of Fire id Signes of Rain 307 Signes of Snow id CHAP. XV. Dictionarium Rusticum 312 CHAP. I. Of Husbandry and Improvements in general plainly discovering the Nature Reasons and Causes of Improvements and the Growth of Vegetables c. AGriculture hath been not undeservedly esteemed What Agriculture is a Science that principally teacheth us the Nature and divers Properties and Qualities as well of the several Soils Earths and Places as of the several Productions or Creatures whether Vegetable Animal or Mineral that either naturally proceed or are artificially produced from or else maintained by the Earth Agricultura est Scientia docens quae sunt in unoquoque Agro serunda faciunda quae terra maximos perpetuo proventus ferat saith Varro The Judicious and Understanding Husbandman must first consider Of the Subject whereon the Husband man bestows his labor the Subject whereon to spend his Time Cost and Labor viz. the Earth or Ground which we usually term either Meadow Arable Pasture Woodland Orchard or Garden-ground then whether it be more Commodious or Profitable for Meadow for Pasture or for Woods which in most places are naturally produced to the great advantage of the Husbandman or with what particular Species of Grain Pulse Trees Fruits or other Vegetables it is best to Plant or Sowe the same to his greatest benefit And with what Beasts Fowl or other Animals to Stock his Farm or other Lands Also he is to consider the best and most commodious way of Tilling Improving Propagating Planting and Manuring all such Meadows Arable and Pasture Pasture-Lands Woods Orchards and Gardens and the Reasons and Causes of such Improvements All which we shall endeavor to discover to the satisfaction and content of the diligent and laborious Husbandman But before we enter upon the particular Ways and Methods of Agriculture treated of in this ensuing Work we shall endeavor to unvail the secret Mysteries as they are commonly esteemed of the Productions and Increase of Vegetables after a plain and familiar Method not exceeding the Capacity of our Husbandmen whom this Treatise doth principally concern by the true knowledge whereof a gate is opened to Propagate Maturate or Advance the Growth or Worth of any Tree Plant Grain Fruit or Herb to the highest pitch Nature admits of This Globe of Earth that affords unto us the substance not only Of the Universal Spirit or Mercury of our selves but of all other Creatures Sublunary is impregnated with a Spirit most subtile and Ethereal as it were divinioris Aurae particula as the Learned Willis terms it which the Original De Fermentatione or Father of Nature hath placed in this World as the Instrument of Life and Motion of every thing This Spirit is that which incessantly administers unto every Animal its Generation Life Growth and Motion to every Vegetable its Original and Vegetation It is the Vehicle that carrieth with it the Sulphureous and Saline parts whereof the Matter Substance or Body of all Vegetables and Animals are formed or composed It is the Operator or Workman that transmutes by its active heat the Sulphureous and Saline parts of the Earth or Water into those varieties of Objects we daily behold or enjoy according to the different Seed or Matrix wherein it operates It continually perspires through the pores of the Earth carrying with it the Sulphureous and Saline parts the only treasure the Husband-man seeks for as hath been by some Ingenious Artists mechanically proved by receiving the same between the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes in an Alembick head where it hath condensed and copiously distilled into the Receiver at that season of the year the Earth then more liberally affording it than in the Winter-season which Spiritual Liquor so received is not a Treasure to be sleighted or neglected carrying with it the only Matter of Vegetables as the same Artists affirmed that having placed the same under a Melon-Glass near some Vegetable it was thereby wholly attracted externally and converted into that Vegetable they concluded also the same to be that Materia Prima quae absque omni sumptu labore molestia reperta est quam in aëre capere te oportet antequam ad terram perveniat c. This Liquor undoubtedly would be of singular Vertue and Effect in advancing and maturating the Growth of the more excellent Flowers or Curiosities being irrigated therewith It is easily obtained and that in great Quantities by such that think not a little time and labor lost to scrutine into the Mysteries of Nature But whether we obtain it singly or simply or not this we know that it is to be received by placing the more natural Receptacles the Seeds and Plants in the Earth which gives it us transmuted into such Forms and Substances as are most desired and necessary Although the Spirit or Mercury be that active and moving Of the Universal Sulphur part and that principally appears in the Generation or Conception of any Vegetable or Animal and is also the first that flies in the separation or dissolution of Bodies yet is it imbecile and defective without that most Excellent Rich and Sulphureous Principle which according to the description of the Learned Willis is De Fermentatione of a little thicker consistence than the Spirit and next unto it the most active for when any mixture or compound is separated the Spirits first fly then follow after the Sulphureous Particles The temperature of every thing so far as to the Heat Consistence and curious Texture thereof doth principally depend on Sulphur from hence every Plant Fruit and Flower receives those infinite varieties of Forms Colours Gusts Odours Signatures and Vertues it is that which is the proper Medium to unite the more